DROVE A HERD TO MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA, Page #0268

our herd, and put in
three hundred more, making eleven hundred in all.

When we were near the Mississippi River the Confederate soldiers arrested all of
our crowd, thinking we were trying to get the beeves to the Yankees. They took
the owners of the herd to Alexandria and held the rest of us four or five days,
but as they could not prove anything, we were all released and permitted to
pursue our journey. When we reached the Mississippi a thousand of the beeves
took the water and easily swam across, but we had to sell one hundred on this
side of the river, as we could not get them across. We had an old negro with us
who was very excitable, and was always uneasy for fear the Yankees would get
him, and we had a great deal of difficulty in keeping him with us.

We found sugar mills at all of the large plantations and whenever we stopped at a
mill our boys were told to "help themselves," which they usually did, with the
result that they often ate too much and were sick from the effects of it.

After we crossed the Mississippi the Confederate soldiers arrested us again, and
took our men to Fort Hudson, where they kept them several days, but, as in the
former case, they found nothing against us and turned us loose. At Woodville,
Mississippi, the cattle were divided, and Borroum and Choate sold theirs to
parties there. Crum and Fleming went on to Mobile, Alabama, where they sold
their cattle.

At Woodville we stayed at a plantation owned by Dr. Simms. The fence around this
plantation was made of hedges. One night Dr. Simms persuaded Upshur Brookin and
myself to go bird hunting. We had to carry a light and kill the birds with a
stick. We succeeded in killing but one bird, and the next morning at breakfast
Upshur found that bird on his plate. Dr. Simms had a large canebreak on his farm
where he kept his mules and horses. The doctor had never seen a hair rope, so
while